Single sideband systems

AM Single-Sideband Full Carrier

AM single-sideband full carrier (SSBFC) is a

form of amplitude modulation in which the
carrier is transmitted at full power but only
one of the sidebands is transmitted.

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AM Single-Sideband Suppressed
Carrier
• AM single-sideband suppressed carrier (SSBSC) is a form of
amplitude modulation in which the carrier is totally suppressed and
one of the sidebands removed.

• The frequency spectrum and relative power distribution for SSBSC

with upper sideband transmission are shown in Figure 6-lc.

• It can be seen that the sideband power makes up 100% of the total
transmitted power.

• Figure 6-3 shows a SSBSC waveform for a single-frequency

modulating signal. As you can see, the waveform is not an
envelope; it is simply a sine wave at a single frequency equal to the
carrier frequency plus the modulating-signal frequency or the carrier
frequency minus the modulating-signal frequency, depending on
which sideband is transmitted.

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 AM Single-Sideband Reduced
AM Independent Sideband
Carrier
• AM single-sideband reduced carrier (SSBRC) is a form • AM independent sideband (ISB) is a form of amplitude modulation in
of amplitude modulation in which one sideband is totally which a single carrier frequency is independently modulated by two
different modulating signals.
removed and the carrier voltage is reduced to
approximately 10% of its unmodulated amplitude.
• The single-sideband output signals from the two modulators are
combined to forma double-sideband signal in which the two
• To produce a reduced carrier component, the carrier is sidebands are totally independent of each other except that they are
totally suppressed during modulation and then reinserted symmetrical about a common carrier frequency.
at a reduced amplitude. Therefore, SSBRC is sometimes
called single-sideband reinserted carrier. • One sideband is positioned above the carrier in the frequency
spectrum and one below. For demodulation purposes, the carrier is
generally reinserted at a reduced level as with SSBRC transmission.
• The frequency spectrum.and relative power distribution Figure 6-le shows the frequency spectrum and power distribution for
for SSBRC are shown in Figure 6-1d. The figure shows ISB.
that the sideband power constitutes almost 100%

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AM Vestigial Sideband
• AM vestigial sideband (VSB) is a form of amplitude
modulation in which the carrier and one complete
sideband are transmitted, but only part of the second
sideband is transmitted.

• The carrier is transmitted at full power. In VSB, the lower

modulating-signal frequencies are transmitted double
sideband, and the higher modulating-signal frequencies
are transmitted single sideband.

• The frequency spectrum and relative power distribution

for VSB are shown in Figure 6-If.

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 MATHEMATICAL ANALYSIS OF SINGLE-SIDEBAND
SUPPRESSED-CARRIER AM GENERATION
• A circuit that produces a double-sideband suppressed-
carrier signal is a balanced modulator.

• The balanced modulator has rapidly become one of the

most useful and widely used circuits in electronic
communications.

• In addition to suppressed-carrier AM systems, balanced

modulators are widely used in frequency and phase
modulation systems as well as in digital modulation
systems, such as phase shift keying and quadrature
amplitude modulation.

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Balanced Ring Modulator

• Essentially, diodes D, to D4 are electronic switches that control whether the
modulating signal is passed from input transformer T1 to output transformer T2 as is
or with a 180°phase shift.

• With the carrier polarity as shown in Figure 6-5b, diode switches D1 and D2 are
forward biased and on, while diode switches D3 and D4 are reverse biased and off.
Consequently, the modulating signal is transferred across the closed switches to T2
without a phase reversal.

• When the polarity of the carrier reverses, as shown in Figure 6-5c, diode switches D1
and D2 are reverse biased and off, while diode switches D3 and D4 are forward
biased and on. Consequently, the modulating signal undergoes a 180°phase
reversal before reaching T2.

• Carrier current flows from its source to the center taps of T1 and T2, where it splits
and goes in opposite directions through the upper and lower halves of the
transformers. Thus, their magnetic fields cancel in the secondary windings of the
transformer and the carrier is suppressed.

• If the diodes are not perfectly matched or if the transformers are not exactly center
tapped, the circuit is out of balance, and the carrier is not totally suppressed. It is
virtually impossible to achieve perfect balance; thus, a small carrier component is
always present in the output signal. 11 12

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 Single-Sideband Transmitter:
Filter Method
• Figure 6-12 shows a block diagram for a SSB transmitter that uses
balanced modulators to suppress the unwanted carrier and filters to
suppress the unwanted sideband.

• The figure shows a transmitter that uses three stages of frequency

up-conversion. The modulating signal is an audio spectrum that
extends from 0 kHz to 5 kHz.

• The modulating signal mixes with a low-frequency (LF) 100-kHz

carrier in balanced modulator 1 to produce a double-sideband
frequency spectrum centered around the suppressed 100-kHz IF
carrier.

• Bandpass filter 1 (BPF 1) is tuned to a 5-kHz bandwidth centered

around 102.5 kHz, which is the center of the upper sideband
frequency spectrum.

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• The low-frequency IF is converted to the final operating frequency

band through a series of frequency translations.

• First, the SSBRC waveform, is mixed in balanced modulator 2 with a

2-MHz medium-frequency (MF) carrier. The output is a double-
sideband suppressed-carrier signal in which the upper and lower
sidebands each contain the original SSBRC frequency spectrum.
The upper and lower sidebands are separated by a 200-kHz
frequency band that is void of information.

• The output is a double-sideband suppressed-carrier signal in which

the upper and lower sidebands again each contain the original
SSBRC frequency spectrum.

• The sidebands are separated by a 4.2-MHz frequency band that is

void of information. BPF 3 is centered on 22.1025 MHz with a 5-kHz
bandwidth.

• Therefore, the output of BPF 3 is once again a single-sideband

waveform with a reduced 22.1-MHz RF carrier and a 5-kHz-wide
upper sideband. The output waveform is amplified in the linear
power amplifier and then transmitted.
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 • In the transmitter just described, the original modulating-
signal frequency spectrum was up-converted in three
modulation steps to a final carrier frequency of 22.1 MHz
and a single upper sideband that extended from the
carrier to 22.105 MHz.

• After each up-conversion (frequency translation), the

desired sideband is separated from the double-sideband
spectrum with a BPF. The same final output spectrum
can be produced with a single heterodyning process:
one balanced modulator, one bandpass filter, and a
single HF carrier supply.

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Crystal filters
• The crystal lattice filter is commonly used in singlesideband systems. The
lattice comprises two sets of matched crystal pairs (X1 and X2, X3 and X4)
connected between tuned input and output transformers T1 and T2.

• Crystals X1 and X2 are series connected, whereas X3 and X4 are

connected in parallel. Each pair of crystals is matched in frequency within
10 Hz to 20 Hz.

• X1 and X2 are cut to operate at the filter lower cutoff frequency, and X3 and
X4 are cut to operate at the upper cutoff frequency. The input and output
transformers are tuned to the center of the desired passband, which tends
to spread the difference between the series and parallel resonant
frequencies.

• C1 and C2 are used to correct for any overspreading of frequency

difference under matched crystal conditions.

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 Single-sidebands receivers:
Single-Sideband BFO Receiver
• The output from the IF amplifier stage is heterodyned (beat) with the
output from a beat frequency oscillator (BFO). The BFO frequency is
equal to the IF carrier frequency; thus, the difference between the IF
and the BFO frequencies is the information signal.

• Demodulation is accomplished through several stages of mixing and

filtering. The receiver is noncoherent because the RF local oscillator
and BFO signals are not synchronized to each other or to the
oscillators in the, transmitter.

• Consequently, any difference between the transmit and receive local

oscillator frequencies produces a frequency offset error in the
demodulated information signal.

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• The RF mixer and second detector shown in

Figure 6-19 are product detectors. As with the
balanced modulators in the transmitter, their
outputs are the product of their inputs.

• With both the modulator and detector, the single-

frequency carrier is the switching signal. In a
receiver, the input signal, which is a suppressed
or reduced RF carrier and one side-band, is
mixed with the RF local oscillator frequency to
produce an intermediate frequency.

• The output from the second product detector is

the sum and difference frequencies between the
IF and the beat frequency. The difference
frequency band is the original input information.
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 Coherent Single-Sideband BFO
Receiver
• Figure 6-20 shows a block diagram for a coherent single-sideband
BFO receiver.

• The carrier recovery circuit is a narrowband PLL that tracks the pilot
carrier in the composite SSBRC receiver signal and uses the
recovered carrier to regenerate coherent local oscillator frequencies
in the synthesizer.

• The synthesizer circuit produces a coherent RF local oscillator and

BFO frequency. The carrier recovery circuit tracks the received pilot
carrier.

• Therefore, minor changes in the carrier frequency in the transmitter

are compensated for in the receiver, and the frequency offset error
is eliminated. If the coherent receiver shown in Figure 6-20 had
been used in Example 6-2, the RF local oscillator would not have
been allowed to drift independently.
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Single-Sideband Envelope
Detection Receiver
• Figure 6-21 shows the block diagram for a single-sideband receiver that
uses synchronous carriers and envelope detection to demodulate the
received signals.

• The reduced carrier pilot is detected, separated from the demodulated

spectrum, and regenerated in the carrier recovery circuit. The regenerated
pilot is divided and used as the stable frequency source for a frequency
synthesizer, which supplies the receiver with frequency coherent local
oscillators.

• The receive RF is mixed down to IF in the first detector. A regenerated IF

carrier is added to the IF spectrum in the last linear summer, which
produces a SSB full-carrier envelope.

• The envelope is demodulated in a conventional peak diode detector to

produce the original information signal spectrum. This type of receiver is
often called an exalted carrier receiver

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 SINGLE-SIDEBAND
MEASUREMENTS
• Single-sideband transmitters are rated in peak envelope
power (PEP) and peak envelope voltage (PEV) rather
than simply rms power and voltage.

• Figure 6-26a shows the waveform produced in a SSBSC

modulator with a two-tone modulating signal. The
waveform is the vector sum of the two equal-amplitude
side frequencies and is similar to a conventional AM
waveform except that the repetition rate is equal to the
difference between the two modulating-signal
frequencies.

• Figure 6-26b shows the envelope for a two-tone test

signal when a low-amplitude pilot carrier is added.
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